


homely, lonely, we will reach forward without breaking the build

by cmaHeal



Series: resolute, absolute, there lies an ending yet to face - OB!jamikali au [4]
Category: Twisted-Wonderland (Video Game)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, M/M, but every inch of me said we had to move on with the plot, maybe for later hehe, maybe for later? hm....., this was so so close to turning into smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-23
Updated: 2021-01-23
Packaged: 2021-03-15 21:00:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,029
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28944813
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cmaHeal/pseuds/cmaHeal
Summary: the cast made an attempt to talk.it was an attempt.
Relationships: Kalim Al-Asim/Jamil Viper
Series: resolute, absolute, there lies an ending yet to face - OB!jamikali au [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2120181
Kudos: 16





	homely, lonely, we will reach forward without breaking the build

**Author's Note:**

> ATTENTION: chapter 4 canon divergent. overblot parody. only for those who can forgive anything.
> 
> please read the previous parts for world-building / settings. you will indefinitely be confused if you choose not to heed the warning.

The ice packed on his head was cool enough to feel hot to the touch. Finding something to cool the water enough so that it won’t melt in Scarabia was difficult enough, even with magic. Everything was so hot here, it was an amazing feat to see that no one had succumbed to a fever before.

At least, that’s what they surmised had caused their headaches from before.

Even though the ice was practically a blessing in searing heat like this, it did little to help heal Kalim’s headache. The pain he got trying to wrap his head around the blue-haired boy’s words… it wasn’t exactly easy to think about. To him, it just sounded like something had broken the boy enough to both snap his head out of the hypnosis and say a bunch of things that had nothing to do with their lives at all. He didn’t even know where to begin with when it came to processing the words tumbling out of the poor boy’s mouth. It looked like he was absolutely miserable… 

There was a painful truth to uncover from this. The little prince just knows there is, but nevermind his head right now; his entire body wasn’t exactly cooperating at the moment. Everything felt like spaghetti.

He looked across the room to see Jamil doing the exact opposite of what Kalim would rather do. He knew it was important, but if he were being honest, it looked like the teen could use a bit of rest… 

He barely managed to make out a few murmurs from the tactician. Something about… a dormitory? A school? A dorm leader?

Hm. That’s what the boy had called him before, right? He didn’t know where the term had come from, and he still doesn’t now. Except… it felt like another painful truth to uncover. It felt even more personal to him… but from where, he still doesn’t know what.

The little prince winced. There wasn’t much he could do about that, especially if it would just end up complicating this whole mess anyway. Maybe Jamil had the same thoughts on his mind…?

He took another glance at him. There was a certain electricity in the air he just wasn’t registering.

…It felt dangerous. But he ought to know what was happening at the least, right?

“… Hey, Jamil?” Kalim sat up from his makeshift bed of pillows and blankets. “Should we be concerned about what that kid said?”

Jamil’s gaze stopped scrolling down the many leaflets and pages bundled in his hands. There was a slight rustle before he finally placed the papers back into his lap. The thick tension seemed to grow more cloudy. “…If you haven’t noticed,” each word is enunciated with a laced venom, “the only thing on my mind right now has everything to do with what that servant said.”

Kalim winced again, turning his gaze downwards. This was already off to a bad start. “I mean… as much as I want to believe him, the whole thing spurred out of the moment. It felt a little bit sudden… ” He wants to say that the poor kid sounded disillusioned, but he feels as if that might end up insulting the sorcerer in front of him. And that didn’t sound right to him, in more ways than one.

There was definitely a truth to this he just wasn’t getting, and for the tactician to be so worked up over it just meant that it was a very important truth.

“...Does this have anything to do with what you were worried about earlier?” He had to ask.

The electric tension from before tuned down a bit. “...It’s not important.”

The little prince shook his head at this. “It looks like it is, if you’re this worked up over it… You know you can trust me, right?”

Jamil scoffed at this. “Yeah, because the last time I did, it turned out  _ extremely _ well.”

That did not sound as light-hearted as his other teases did.

Kalim sighed. Jamil was just as worried as the prince was over this, so he had a right to feel as defensive as this, but he swears he didn’t do anything… How could he make it up to him?

Well, first, he had to get up to speed on what they both figured was going on. But he can’t do that if Jamil’s this worried… Hm… 

The tactician squinted at him. “What are you thinking of now?”

“Nothing,” the little prince mused, “just…”

He picked himself up from his bed, placing the wet ice onto the countertop next to him. With a swift flourish, he stepped lightly to reach Jamil’s bed and lent out a hand. “...as much as I like to see you sulk all the time like this-” Jamil could only frown deeply at that- “I think we could both use some fresh air. How about a quick rendezvous with some music?”

Jamil pinched his brows. “As much as I’d like to, I’d rather get back to work on-”

“Hold on,” Kalim interrupted. “You said that wasn’t important right now! We should’ve used this time to just relax, but since we’re both restless, let’s just think on our feet and dance the worries away! What do you think?”

The little prince’s smile was so wide, it was practically glowing amidst the muted reds and purples of the chamber.

Besides the ice, mused the tactician, this was somewhat of a blessing in of itself.

“...Fine then,” Jamil finally said, “but after that, we’ve got some work to do.”

Kalim brightened up even more at the word ‘we’.

* * *

The idea of dancing felt so foreign to him, the tactician sighed to himself. It felt foreign in the way that he’s never had an urge to get up and start breaking out into dance, and yet…

In the middle of one of the larger halls in the palace, the two boys gathered up as many instruments as they could find lying around -- which was a surprisingly large amount -- and placed them off to the side. Using a quick tool spell (because neither of them was ready to see another servant after what had happened), the instruments sprung to life, the soft hums of the ouds and dumbakis creating a stimulating rhythm.

As the little prince looked around to make sure the area wasn’t too cluttered, Jamil held a rectangular box close to his chest. During their search for instruments, the sorcerer stumbled onto this trinket. Its material was metallic and had two circular dents crisscrossed with a rough fabric on one side. There were a few buttons on the top with a handle to hold it with.

The teen knew it was a boombox and was used to create music from mixtapes. However… there was a small part of him that felt… fear…? at the idea of turning it on.

Which was silly, he knew, because it was just a boombox. But there was something so different between the music he was used to hearing from the boombox and the instruments laid around, creating a different atmosphere on their own.

“Hey, Jamil!” Kalim greeted and waved over to him. “Is that another instrument you found?”

“Well… sure, yes,” he replied. “But we already have enough now, by the looks of it.”

The hall looked like a makeshift ballroom. It could still use a little work, but what it lacked in the proper conduct of any ballroom he’s seen in books, it made up in the abundance of instruments and invigorating scents from the flavourful flowers that were strewn about.

“You found some more time to plant?” Jamil asked.

“Yep!” Kalim chirped. “It was no biggie to plant more than usual, if that’s what you were concerned about before. The workload isn’t that bad!” It sounded like they’re still avoiding the elephant in the room.

It wasn’t like Jamil didn’t have a few suspicions of his own either. But right now, he’d rather focus on relaxing rather than iterating any of his thoughts to the little prince.

With what he has planned, there would be a time for that later, anyway.

“Do you want to use the boombox too?” the prince asked. “I haven’t heard it before, but I’ve seen it a few times in your room. I’m sure it’ll sound great!”

It does, but there was no way he was just going to turn it on right now. A strong part of him really, really wants to, but… For now, the sorcerer puts the boombox to the side. “I’m taking the lead on this one, little prince,” he simply said. With a quick drag of an arm, he allowed the prince into his personal space for the moment. He pulled in a quiet breath as he let the sound ooze in.

Days and a daze away from his worries, the moment felt safe and innate as they stepped into a beat meant for their movement only. The music abated into a silent whir.

Nothing else seemed to matter at the moment. It felt like they could understand nothing and everything in the infinite space of theirs.

“There was something you wanted to tell me, right?”

Just as innately, just as swiftly, the little prince decided to pull a fast one on the both of them as he led Jamil over and nearly on top of him. It looked like he was trying to be as serious as he could with this, but obviously, the little prince wasn’t one to reserve his dignity in front of authority.

It was much too fleeting of an opportunity to pass up. He bode his whims and took the bait. Hard. “Is this you trying to fit my tastes, or is this you being sincere with me?”

The little prince only chuckled at this. “I’m just trying to get you to help yourself. But still trying to figure out how!”

“And you set this up instead?” the tactician scoffed in amusement. There truly were no bounds to the poor prince’s idiocy, was there? “Good job drawing out the moment.” With the stupid flowers and the stupid music, there was absolutely nothing in the hall that wasn’t contributing to the built-up spike in his libido. From that point on, only nonsense would occur, nothing useful.

An alarmingly large part of him didn’t dislike that idea.

Another alarmingly large part of him wanted to tear himself into the little prince.

“I don’t get it, but thanks!” the little prince answered. “If you’re more comfortable now, then-” With a yelp, Kalim clenched his hand to his head.

“Are you getting another headache?” 

With a quick look-over, Jamil quickly realized. That was not another headache.

Red patches of liquid pooled beneath the prince’s head.

_ Oh for the ever-loving fuck- _

“We have no time for this-!” He quickly pulled up the prince and held him close in a tight fasten. “I knew it, we shouldn’t have wasted our time like this. We need to leave now!”

The little prince still had no idea what he was talking about. “Leave for what? What’s going on?” That’s right, he hasn’t explained it to him yet. And decided that fucking them both over was much more appealing than living.

“People don’t usually pool blood in the middle of nowhere!” He was still a little more than enraged. “The little prick was right, there’s obviously something wrong that we’re not getting-”

The tactician collected himself together and exhaled a breath he never knew he was holding in. “-And as much as I want to think it’s just a medical condition we don’t know about yet, there’s way too much that can’t explain. And as soon as you’re rested, we’re going to find out what tomorrow.”

Kalim looked up wearily. “What? Here?”

Jamil sighed. “No, because I’d rather not wreck this place up over conspiracies.” There was one other place he knew he hadn't entirely exhausted the search out of yet. And such a place was relevant to one of them, at least. “Remember where I found you?”

“Wait, you don’t mean-”

“We’re taking a march to the oasis.” the tactician said. “And then… we’re going to find some answers.”

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> as usual, this was self-indulgent. jamikali represents two parts of me, ergo i self-project with them.
> 
> we're getting into some juicy plot. stuff is breaking and breaking out.
> 
> is that a good thing? well... how do you wanna look at it?
> 
> if you have any questions or comments, please feel free to let me know below! you can do what i do sometimes and log out of your account to comment anonymously too, if that makes you more comfortable.
> 
> also, if you're comfortable, you can come find me on [@_cmaHeal](https://twitter.com/_cmaHeal) on twitter!


End file.
